The company behind the world’s largest online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, claims a French intelligence agency summoned one of its volunteers, forcing him to delete content after the website turned down their request to remove ‘classified’ information.

French Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence (Direction
Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur) demanded that Wikipedia
management delete a part of an article on the French-language
Wikipedia about a French military compound, claiming it contained
classified information, the Wikimedia Foundation said in a press
release published on Saturday.

The request was submitted in early March regarded the article,
created in July 2009, which had information about the military
radio station of Pierre-sur-Haute in south-central France.

After through consideration, Wikimedia refused to grant it,
saying it “did not have enough information.”

According to the company, it “receives hundreds of requests
every year asking for the deletion of articles, and always complies
with clearly motivated requests."

Unsatisfied with the result the French intelligence agency
summoned a Wikipedia volunteer on April 4.

“This volunteer, which was one of those having access to the
tools that allow the deletion of pages, was forced to delete the
article while in the DCRI offices, on the understanding that he
would have been held in custody and prosecuted if he did not
comply,” the Wikimedia release said.

The volunteer had no link with the article, has never edited it
and did not even know about it, Wiki management explained.

Wikimedia was outraged by the actions of the French authorities
calling their methods “bullying and coercive.”

“As Wikimedia France supports free knowledge, it is its duty
to denounce such acts of censorship against a French citizen and
Wikipedia editor,” the statement said.

The company called for an independent investigation into the
case, saying national security should not be ensured through such
measures in France.